SPS Member: 1970 to 2017
Elected to Hall of Fame in 2021
Ken Cook joined the Springfield Photographic Society in 1970 and was a member of our club for 47 years. Here is a tribute from Paul Deegan:
“Ken was an extremely strong and steady individual who lived what he believed, and treated everyone around him with dignity, respect and sincerity. He was a great teacher and loved the teaching profession. His knowledge and skills with math and computers were invaluable and favored everyone fortunate enough to have worked with or around him. I knew Ken from the late 1970’s as both a friend and associate of the Springfield Photographic Society, where he served as chairman of the club’s international color slide exhibit held annually and, as he did for many other organizations served as our statistician. He also served on the New England Camera Club Council as a vice president for over 25 years. He judged, lectured and assisted in many of the exhibits, competitions and teaching sessions sponsored by the local camera club.”
Many of us remember the night that one of our exhibitors presented a wonderful World War II black & white print that did not score very well, as the maker did not have an appropriate mat for the print. Ken asked the maker if he could take it home, and Ken returned with it at the next meeting beautifully matted and framed for all to see this important print as it should be. For this act of kindness and his other contributions to our club, the year-end award for best large black & white print is now known as the Ken Cook Award for Large Black & White Print.